And the Nominations Go To…

January 31, 2005 @ 6:55 am by The Boss

Tee hee. Look who snuck on Pressed’s blog.

Don’t tell him I was here.

Anyway, I wanted to ask for your help in nominating Avoiding Evil for Evangelical Underground’s First Annual Blog Awards. You can help me by sending an e-mail. Simple don’t you think.

All you have to do is send an e-mail to eblogawards@gmail.com and in the subject line put Nomination. Then in the body of the e-mail simply copy and paste the following:

I would like to nominate Avoiding Evil at http://www.avoidingevil.com/blog/ for Best Evangelical Youth Pastor Blog.

See wasn’t that easy.

BTW, Pressed didn’t ask me to do this, knowing him he probably doesn’t know anything about these awards.

Thanks.

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A Hard Day

January 26, 2005 @ 11:59 pm by Pressed

Today was a hard day. Not necessarily a bad day, but definitely a hard one. I couldn’t get motivated, I didn’t prepare like I should have, I was distracted, and I felt like I was spinning out of control. I am normally someone who is extremely organized, however today I was a mess. Later in the afternoon I began to think about our Youth services tonight, the fact that I am the Spiritual leader of these students, that they deserve better, and I recognized my own weakness and wickedness. My flesh haunted me today and God dealt harshly with me. My heart was burdened and troubled for most of the day and my spirit was heavy. God wanted me to pray, he wanted me to admit my troubles, and he wanted to talk. I knew it. I knew God was drawing me to Himself and yet I pulled away. I found other things to do and in my mind I kept saying, “later, I’ll do it later.” Later never came, of course, and finally I simply forgot until, out of the blue, our intern said “we need to pray!” It was at this moment that God had me. When the intern said “we need to pray” I immediately recognized God’s authority, His sovereignty, His mercy, His patience, and His grace. God was not going to let me go upstairs to that youth room without consulting Him first. We knelt to pray and it was such a sweet and powerful time. God’s presence and peace overflowed in abundance as we begged and pleaded with Him to work in spite of our weaknesses. I fessed up to God, told Him my struggles, confessed the things that chained me and He set me free. God is rich in mercy and abundant in grace. It amazes me that He would deal with a wretched, sinful creature like me with unfailing patience and undeniable love. Later I realized why God needed to talk to me… it was not until later that I knew why God called me to such a sweet time of prayer. There were several things that I had to deal with tonight that I was not prepared for. God knew it, I didn’t. I know now why it was so important and why God wouldn’t leave me alone until I came to Him in prayer. God was strengthening me, cleansing me, and preparing me for the evening that was to come. I am glad he did! Like I said, today was hard, but it is one day that I would never trade. All the pain, suffering, and struggles that I dealt with today were all worth it to just have that one sweet moment with God, kneeling in the floor of my office, being so captivated by the presence of God that I could do nothing but weep. I long for such moments with my Lord…

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They Say It’s Your Birthday! (My Life In A Nutshell)

January 25, 2005 @ 9:43 am by Pressed

I have survived a whole 26 years of life. Impressive huh? A special thanks to Christopher for pointing out to the whole world that I am another year older. *smirk* Since it is my birthday I will share with you my all time favorite birthday song:

You say it’s your birthday. It’s my birthday too–yeah. They say it’s your birthday. We’re gonna have a good time. I’m glad it’s your birthday. Happy birthday to you. -The Beatles Happy Birthday

Alright, go grab some popcorn, a large coke, and some chocolate covered peanuts, kick off your shoes, air out your socks, sit back and relax as you get to know me just a little better. And without further ado, here is a recap on the 26 years of my life:

0 to 6 months: I was born in St. Louis, Mo at St. Johns Mercy medical center on January 25, 1979. It was a cold, wintery day and I seem to remember my dad always talking about how he had to drive around with the windows open when it was 2 below outside because she got so hot. I came into the world with thick, dark black hair and dark skin. Mom says that I was such a pretty baby… I wonder what happened. I did have colic as a small child and cried constantly, in fact, I think I drove my mother crazy which would explain a lot at this point in life.

7 months to 5 years: We lived in Sullivan, MO at a house on 1001 Roscoe St. right here in town. I remember the big snow we had when I was about 3 or 4 years old. It was so deep that it was over my head! My mom wouldn’t let me go outside and play in the huge forts and tunnels my brother and his friends had built. I am still bitter about that. I started kindergarten when I was 5 years old in what is now the Sullivan School District Administration building. I remember my brother dropping me off for Kindergarten one morning on his way to high school. I walked up to the door and it was locked because he had dropped me off too early. I was completely devastated because I thought I was stranded at school and so I cried until a teacher came out a got me.

6 years to 8 years “The Dark Ages” I went to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade in Sullivan. These were some interesting years for me. My parents got a divorce during this period of my life which was really hard on me. I wanted to live with both and ended up going back and forth for long periods of time. The last time, when I finally moved in with my mom for good, my dad dropped all of my stuff off in a huge pile in the front yard of her house. It was not an easy time for me especially amidst the deep hostility going on between my parents. Interestingly enough I experienced a lot of life when I was in 2nd and 3rd grade. My mom was very lenient and let me go where I wanted, whenever. I walked all over Sullivan, back and forth to school, road my bike around town, hung out with the neighbor kids, and got into lots of trouble. By the end of third grade I managed to try cigarettes, steal from Wal-Mart and gas stations (I had a fine collection of stolen GI-Joes), I vandalize a CAT Backhoe loader doing several thousand dollars worth of damage, I got thrown into a police car and dragged to the police station, kicked the wall in at my house, I had a fowl mouth and I ended up doing a large amount of other terrible things that are just as bad, if not worse, than what I have already mentioned and I don’t think I will divulge that information. Just know that by the time I finished 3rd grade I had experienced a lot. To think about this now really blows my mind. What were my parents thinking?

9 years to 14 years It was at this point in my life that a lot of things changed. My mom and her new husband decided to get out of Sullivan. We moved to Bourbon and I went to school there from 4th grade until I graduated. This was probably one of the best things that happened to me. It got me away from the kids I went to school with in Sullivan and put me into a new environment. I stayed with my dad on the weekends, which the majority of time was spent either by myself at the house or at the horse races with my dad. I have spent many years going to the horse races at Fairmont Park in Illinois. By the time I was 10 years old I new how to gamble at the race track and loved to go just to spend time with my dad. While I was not a perfect angel, I think that by this time I had calmed down a lot. The major battles between my parents were over and I was getting settled in life. These were some good years for me. I spend my time playing and having fun. I road my bike and walked all over town, I played and explored just about everywhere in Sullivan and Bourbon but I didn’t get involved in anything bad and I stayed out of trouble, so it seemed that the “dark” period of life was over. I went to church a couple times with my sister and liked it, but never went back just because my parents didn’t go. I got involved in band when I was in 5th grade and from that point school stuff began to consume my life. I went to school, went home to play, watched TV, went to bed, and that was my life! I had lots of friends and lots of fun.

15 years to 17 years And then came High School… Honestly, I did pretty good in High School. I stayed out of trouble for the most part. I spent the majority of my time working and going to school. The day I turned 16 I got a job to pay for car insurance and whatever else I wanted to do. I was involved in band, but never got into any sports. Oddly enough I never got into drinking, drugs, and partying even though the opportunity was there. I did plenty of stupid things. I had a filthy mouth and a dirty mind for sure. I was one of those guys you see hanging around town in large groups of people with their cars all lined up in an empty parking lot. We would sit around and talk in the middle of town for hours, then we would go out and race cars and do all kinds of dangerous things that we really should not have been doing. It was also at this point in my life that I met some friends who eventually started what I consider one of the biggest changes to happen in my lifetime. When I was 17 years old, in 1996, these friends invited me to come to church with them, and I did. I started going to Sunday School. I would go to Sunday School class, I would say nothing, I wouldn’t answer any questions, and I wouldn’t go to any other church services. For the longest time it was Sunday School only, but the important thing was that I went.

18 years to 20 years When I was 17 years old I went to an event at my girlfriend’s church called “Heaven’s Gates And Hell’s Flames”. It was there that I went forward and called on the name of Jesus to save me. I remember sitting there during the invitation sweating, shaking, and crying. I had to go forward, I was compelled, and though I tried to fight it, I couldn’t. After I accepted Christ, I went on my first mission trip to Colorado with the youth group of Temple Baptist Church when I was 18 years old in 1997. I had no clue what being a Christian was all about, but I went anyway. This trip is where I experienced God through powerful worship for the first time in my life. I discovered what our Youth group was all about, I discovered what worship was all about, and it put life in perspective for me. Unfortunately I had just graduated High School and technically I was not in Youth anymore.

After this mission trip I went to church non-stop. Every time the doors were open, I went. This was my first year of college, I was 19 years old and this was the first year that I actually got really involved in the Youth Group of our church. The youth pastor let me help with the youth group as a college student. It made up for all of those years I had missed the opportunity to actually be in the Youth Group. I went to East Central College in Union, MO where I received an Associate of Applied Science degree in Electronics. It was during this period of my life that God began to lead me to the next step. About a year after I was saved it hit me that I had never publicly shared my testimony of Christ’s work in my life through baptism. I was praying, asking God to work in my life and show me what he wanted me to do and he revealed the next step. So on April 26, 1998 I was baptized at Temple Baptist Church during the 10:45 service. I remember walking up to the front of the empty sanctuary that morning and sitting on the front pew where I suddenly found myself in deep anguish and pain. My heard was broken. I sat there and cried because I couldn’t believe that my parents would not come to church to see me get baptized. It was one of the most significant moments of my life and they were not there for it.

That summer I went on another mission trip with the youth group, this time to New York. It was on this trip that I learned what service was all about. It was a tough trip, it wasn’t all that fun and exciting, we worked, it was hard, and yet we accomplished so much. God did some pretty awesome things in my life and began to develop character in me that had not existed before. I was the shy kid who never talked, kept to himself, and always just blended in with the crowd, fading into the background. That was all changing. My goal in life was to make a lot of money doing computer tech work and electronic repair. That was it. I had that goal from the time I was in JR High until I began to fulfill it in College. God had a different plan. Exactly one month after I came back home from my second mission trip I went forward one Sunday morning to accept a call into ministry on August 30, 1998.

During my second year of college I was finishing up my Electronics degree (once I start something I have to finish it). It was during this time that I was working diligently with the youth group. It was at this point that there was some talk about an internship. The pastor and youth pastor thought it would be great to start an internship in our church for students who were being called into ministry. On June 7, 1999 I became the first paid youth intern of Temple Baptist Church at the age of 20. Four months later I preached my first sermon on October 10, 1999 during the 6:00 p.m. service.

21 years to 23 years I worked as the youth intern for three years where I received experience preaching, making hospital visits, organizing and leading the youth group, leading worship, working with the sound system, working with the video & media system, and many other things involved in church life. I graduated from ECC in 1999 and then went another year for more basic classes. In the Fall of ’99 I transferred to Missouri Baptist College where I worked on my BA in Religion. During my last semester and MoBap I became the interim youth minister at our church after our Youth Minister left. I was interim for 5 months and then in May 2002 I graduated Missouri Baptist College at the age of 23 and became the full time Youth Minister of Temple Baptist Church. In the Fall of ’02 I began working on my Masters degree as an extension student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

24 years to 25 years Over the next two years I just started to get my feet wet as a newly hired youth pastor. I really had no clue what I was in for and didn’t know whether or not I would survive. The first year as a full time youth minister I was just keeping my head above water. The second year I was trying to rebuild everything and the third year I finally had enough relationships and enough trust built that we have started to see some real growth. I continued to go to school full time and work full time as well.

26 years I got up this morning, came to church, sat down and started writing this post, answered the phone a couple times, and now I am going to lunch… I am preparing to go on two mission trips this summer which will equal 12 M-trips that I have attended since I graduated high school. I am working on youth material and activities for year number 4 of full time youth ministry and I am still going to seminary.

That is my life in a nutshell; if you made it this far I am impressed!

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Gravatar

January 23, 2005 @ 8:28 pm by Pressed

My site now has Gravatar. What is it?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs!

The good news is that you do not have to have Gravatar on your site in order to have a Gravatar image and it is all free! Simply go the their website, sign up, and choose an image that looks good at 80×80 and you are good to go. Anytime you comment on my site using your Gravatar e-mail address you image will appear. Those who do not have a Gravatar image or those whose image is rated R or above will get a default image that says “no gravatar”.

It’s kinda fun to go to other blogs and be able to display my image. The only trouble I have is remembering the right e-mail address. *sigh* If you are a regular blogger then Gravatar is a must for you. Go sign up!!!

Gravatar has a rating system. They do not censor images, but they do have a system where you can choose which ratings can be displayed on your site. My site will only display G and PG images.

If you go to Gravatar’s homepage they have a random image generator which displays members pictures. This generator may not be censored and so you may get a picture you don’t want to see… I am providing you with the link to the sign-up page so that you can skip over the random generator. Enter at your own risk, cause you may not necessarily be “avoiding evil”.

My comments are kinda messed up in some browsers… just can’t seem to get them right…

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The Blogging World

January 20, 2005 @ 4:53 pm by Pressed

I’ve been doing a lot of blog reading today, taking a break from Blog Explosion and spending some time reading the blogs that are on my blogrolling list. It reminds me why I added some of these blogs to my list in the first place. Here is what’s going on in the blogging world:

Locdog has some wonderful insights on the war and the president. I really enjoyed this post and it made me think about what I would do or say if I were in the shoes of our president…

Tony offers us a little dose of reality in his latest blog post.

Confused about where God is leading you? Have a hard time hearing His voice and knowing what to do? Check out the latest entry at Sparkle, it’s a helpful and inspiring entry.

Justin discusses an insightful saying that Christians should continue to be mindful of… junk in, junk out!

WIT is having a commenting contest. Sounds like a ploy to keep his commenters busy while he does other things… hmmm.
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P.S. I forgot all about poor Anna. She has a new blog called InkBlots. You should definatly go over there and check it out!

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